Thursday, May 28, 2009

A sweet girl in my ward invited me to be apart of these monthly girl's nights with some of her family & friends. Her name is Oakley Howard (she's an awesome mom of 2 aDoRAbLe little kidlets, she has a sweet hubby, & she has her own at-home children's clothing line :). I'm SO grateful she invited me. Honestly, I'm so blessed I get to live with my best friend...but there's nothing like the a friendship between women. I really miss my sisters & my college roommates sometimes, and I work with only men all day at work...so I'm so excited to start doing this monthly get together and get to know these awesome women better!

Oh, & this wasn't any normal tea party...we most definitely took this as an opportunity to get all dolled-up! ;) Gloves, hats, flowers, dresses, clutches, pearls, red lipstick adorned all the ladies...the works

We had a late afternoon tea at Tea's and You in Farmington...it's a beautiful, old home that was turned into a tea house :)

* This was our table...there were 3 tables in the room...full of friends & sisters having a lovely time together! *

* Oakley's mom, Sydney, had a great idea! She brought her digital camera & her docking station so she could print pictures right there at the tea house! She brought those cute little gold frames & took a picture of each of us all dolled-up to put in the frames...a fun little keepsake :) When I came home, I told Adam he should take it to work and put it on his desk...haha! *

* Here's Oakley posing for her picture :) i LOVED her black lacy gloves...and he hair piece! And SHE made it!! (you can see the hair piece better in other pictures) *

* Oakely and me *

* Here's Sydney...she had the most OUTRAGEOUSLY, AWESOME hat!! And, just like Oakley, she made her hat! It's one-of-a-kind, that's for sure ;) *

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

It's crazy how fast time can slip through our fingers...and it makes me SO happy to know that, while this year did fly by, we enjoyed every moment together. Adam & I started it out right...in the Salt Lake City Temple with family & friends that we love so much. And since that day, we've loved being able to wake up next to each other every morning, we've learned how to communicate better with each other, we've had differing opinions, we've laughed & we've cried together (at the same time on more than one occassion), we've prayed together, we've sought advice from each other, we've read to each other, we've bought a home together, we've served in the Cub Scouts together (kinda), we've traveled together, we've enjoyed numerous sushi dinners/lunches together, we've dancedin the kitchen to candle light, we've enjoyed watching DVD's on our laptops in bed (due to lack of TV, which we like), we've taken millions & billions (okay, maybe not quite) of photos to capture our memories, we've grown in love with each other more each day...we've been blessed.

I'm so, So, SO grateful for my sweet husband. He is the world to me...I thank my Heavenly Father for him in each of my prayers. How I got so lucky to get him, I still have yet to find out ;) He helps me want to be my best. He's my prince charming!!! I feel like a princess as his wife. And I know, from how he treats me & our families, he's going to be an absolutely AWESOME father to our [future] children...those little kiddies are going to have the best Daddy-o on the block!...no, in the world! =)

We look forward to the rest of our life together...and the rest of forever :)

...AnNiVErSary CeLeBRaTiOn...

Here's what we did on Sunday, and mostly Monday, to celebrate the best year of our lives so far!!

Sunday morning Adam was SO stinkin' sweet to make me breakfast in bed :)

(but for the record...what actually happened was that I woke up with my hubby MIA, so I walked into the kitchen, I could hear he was up to something. I found him, oh so sweetly, making me breakfast. "You're supposed to still be asleep sweetheart," he says... "It's okay," I reply, "let's make it together!" "No, no no! You get back to bed, and I'll bring it into you." So, I float back to our bedroom with thoughts of how I am the luckiest girl in the world. I then proceed to fold laundry on the bed while listened to conference talks :] Soon after, we enjoy the yummy breakfast Adam prepared!...which included french toast with Nutella --> to...die...for...)

On Monday, I planned a few surprises for my hubby... :)

* Yea for bring married for 1 whole year!!! woohoo! *

We went out for sushi at Happy Sumo in Salt Lake's Gateway...we sat out side in the perfectly sunny weather and enjoyed our delicious sushi =)

* Chopstick-teeth is always a winner...Yeah for being dorks in a public setting!!! *

And guess who we saw while we were out to lunch?????...the one, the only...John Schmidt!! He was out to lunch with his wife =)

(here's a link to an awesome video of him playing his version of Taylor Swift's "Love Story" mixed with Cold Play's "Viva la Vida"...awesome)

* By the time i thought to use my paparazzi skills, he was walking away...but i got a picture of the back of his cute little red head! heehee *

Next on the mystery agenda was to head over to Liberty Park & ride the ferris wheel (yep, the one from the movie Charly...and I'll admit it's one of my favorite movies...so it was a pretty big deal to be riding it with my forever sweetheart)And for entertainment purposes...look for the difference in the next 2 picutres... ;) * sigh...blinking pictures...gotta love 'em *

* look at those eyes!! makes me melt... *

* kisses...kisses...can't get enough ;) *

* the sun was so cozy...oh, and i was wrapped up in the arms of my best friend *

* The ferris wheel seat in front of us was #1!...again, yeah for 1 year!! *

After the perfect ferris wheel ride, we went on a little stroll around the park...holding hands, of course =)

We saw these two cute little girls... * Why this picture rocks: the grown-up tricycle, the younger sister in the basket, they both have blonde dreads, & she's wearing pink camo pants *

While wandering Liberty Park, we happened upon a group of super nice hippies that were selling tie-die blankets, shirts, tanktops, & dresses...they had some pretty sweet jewelry & some hand-made sandals (i wanted a pair, but my not-so-dainty feetsies wouldn't fit)...

And being that it was Memorial Day, I found it quite fitting that Liberty Park has this monument...it says "For Those Who Served in the World Wars." We're grateful for those who've lost their lives fighting for our freedom. After the park, we were off to our surprise dinner appointment...which Adam figured out pretty quick...we had reservations at 7 but we had to leave at 6 to get there... ;) We were heading to Midway, which is where we stayed for our honeymoon last May, at the Homestead Resort :) One of the restaurants we ate at on our honeymoon was the Blue Boar Inn...European fine-dining, with such a unique atmostphere. It was so fun to be back there!We decided our first course would be a delicious salad...and escargot!!!! * My first escargot experience...very unique, and surprisingly really delicious! *

The dinner was absolutely divine...and it's always better when you're sharing it with your other half :)

We had a wonderful time celebrating our first anniversary together!! Here's to many, many more! I love you Adam!!!!

PS - We really wanted to get away for a night in Park City...but instead, we decided to save that $$ to buy a picture of the Salt Lake Temple for our home :) We went by Deseret Book on our way to sushi and found this gorgeous piece...we'll keep shopping around 'til we find "the one"...can't wait to have it up in our front room! Does anyone have suggestions for places that sell church artwork for a good price??

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Wednesday night, after a rambunctious night of Cub Scouts (that's why cub scout cheers made me smile yesterday:), Adam and I went out to dinner with a couple of his old high school friends, Luke & Jaycie Allen. They're actually high school sweethearts (everybody together now, "Awwwee!") and they've been married for 2 years now...on the same day as Adam and I!! =)

We went to MacCool's Pub in Layton. Adam and I have been there once before and loved it! It's a unique restaurant that specializes in Irish dishes. We highly recommend it :)

After we enjoyed our dinners (none of us finished...yay for lunch tomorrow!), we headed for the shuffle board table. I always though that shuffle board was for sweet old men & old ladies...think again! It's honestly a ton of fun!! :) It's a long, narrow wooden table that has a thin layer of this sand-stuff sprinkled over it (to make it slippery). The point of the game is to push/place a weight (really heavy, thick pucks) as far down the table as possible, without it falling off. The closer it is to the end, the more points :) And you'd be surprised how slick the board is because of the sand stuff...mine usually flew off. haha Adam & I were on Team Blue and Luke & Jaycie were on Team Red... We had a great time!

Monday, May 11, 2009

As I mentioned in my yoga post a couple weeks ago, for the last few months Adam and I have had this amazing trip planned...we were headed to Belize!! We were going to be traveling with his 2 brothers (Luke & Ben) and their wives (Becca & LaCol)...but, thanks to the notorious Swine Flu outbreak in Mexico, our plans changed...Plan B:Roadtrip!!!!

Itinerary: St. George, Las Vegas, California

Here we are...hittin' the road! It was such a gorgeous day =)

*note: we were listening to the Lion King soundtrack right about now...haha! I love long drives with lots of music!

1st stop: ST. GEORGE

We had quite the fun drive with Ben & LaCol down to St. George, where Adam's sweet Grandma has a condo she so generously leaves open to her family. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay there :) Thanks Grandma Kjar!

Friday morning we went to hike in Zion's National Park. There are so many awesome hikes & trails to choose from...we ended up picking Angel's Landing, and we picked right!

Taking a break to enjoy the view...and few kisses ;)

Luke, Becca, LaCol, Ben, Adam, me...such a fun group :)

Here's Adam showing us his skills!!

Look at that view!

We reached the top!!...it was quite the hike, i loved it cause I was able to get a work out while on vacation & had a blast doing it!

After the hike, we got cleaned up and went out to a delicious Mexican restaurant in St. George...DeLIciOso!

2nd stop: LAS VEGAS

We headed down to Vegas on Saturday to catch the Motocross World Championships!

Waiting for our awesome friend who got us in for FREE...my favorite price :) He ownes a business that has a gets promoted at these type of events...so let's just say, he knows people

Adam, me, Luke, Becca, LaCol, & Ben...we may or may not have been enjoying the races from reserved seats ;)

I'd never been to a motocross event, it was awesome!!!

We're really good about rollin' with the punches...so, since the races got over later than we thought, we ditched the original plan of driving straight to Cali...and instead, slept in our car... HA! (we're poor newly weds, and we were saving every penny for our adventure that awaited us in Disneyland!)

This was my first time to California, so I was SOOOO excited!! In California, we (minus Luke & Becca. they, sadly enough, had to get back to utah for work) were lucky enough to stay with this awesome family, the Westbrooks, who the Kjars know (they met at BYU...and have kept in touch & stayed close. awesome). They were so good to us!! We arrived on Sunday afternoon to a beautiful Sunday dinner :) It was so great to get to know them, they've become great friends even from our short trip.

Sunday night, after dinner, we went to the beach for a nice sunset stroll...

The sunset was better than perfect...such a good night with such good people.

After the evening walk on the beach, we came back and had some good fun with SCUM...have you ever played it?? I hadn't played it in forever, and i forgot how much fun it is!

The next day we were planning on heading to Disneyland (another first for me!!!!...and LaCol, we were STOKED!), and since this family is a bunch of Disnland goo-roos, they gave us tons of awesome tips (use Fast Passes!) so that our experience there could be the very best (especially since we were only there for 2 days). I went to sleep that night dreaming of Cinderella's castle, all of the fun rides, cottoncandy, the disney characters, & the magic of Disneyland I have waited to experience all my life :)

Disneyland rocked my world.

This is a picture of a Street Dance Party they had!...there's nothing small about Disneyland, they do everything BIG. The colors, the music, the smiles on the dancers' faces, it was great...i felt like a little kid.

Here we are with Mary Poppins herself & Bert :) I absolutely loved how in-character they were while we took the photo!..."Chin up everyone!" she said! so stinkin' cute =)

And i loved her dress, hat, gloves, & parasol...classy:)

Here we are on the INDIANA JONES ride!!! Adam was so excited to take me on it! I'm just glad I had him to grab on to!

We're a bit moist in this picture after riding Splash Mountain...okay, we got soaked :)

We had to grab some In-N-Out :)

Day 2 of Disneyland!!...& California Adventure

We went to California Adventure first thing on Tuesday morning...

Yep, A is for Adam!

The day before, we got a litte bit of a late start...but we learned from our mistake, and this morning we were the first ones in the park!!!! There's LaCol & Ben, making there way to the first ride of the day :)

We were the first ones to theCalifornia Screamin' ride...so we had the front and is was a BLAST!!! After we hopped off the coaster, we got right back in line for round 2 (waited a whole 3 minutes, it rocked).

What can i say?...he's a rascal ;) heehee!

Our favorite ride was the TOWER OF TERROR!!! (Adam and I are in the front left of the picture, & Ben and LaCol are just to the right of us...haha, we were posed:)

This little backdrop totally got me!! We were walking down the street & from far away it took me a couple seconds to get that it was a painting...haha!

These were some very entertaining street performers in California Adventures...acappella +jazz...how good does it get?? :)

This was a restaurant Mama Kjar had told us about...the Blue Bayou...the atmosphere was one-of-a-kind!! It's set right inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride...it's lit by chinese-lanterns & candle light on the tables :)

It was a perfect lunch :) A nice way to relax in the middle of a crazy, eventful day at Disneyland!

About Me

My name is Haley and I am lucky enough to be a wife to my best friend, Adam. He's my partner in this adventure of parenthood we're on together. I am "Mama" to our awesome son Brooks and our beautiful daughter Ava. Life is so sweet. And by recording the little moments that make me smile, laugh, cry, get butterflies, have regrets, learn lessons, gain talents, and help me grow, I'll be able to savor those moments more than once. xo